May 15, 2025 • 11 mins
In this season opener, Erica D’Eramo returns to the Two Piers Podcast after a deliberate break between seasons. She reflects on the decision to step back in order to better support clients—particularly those in the federal government—affected by recent executive orders and reductions in force. Erica also shares personal insights from the past few months, including navigating illness, grief, and the necessity of taking time to rest and recharge.
This episode offers a preview of what’s ahead in Season 6: a revamped newsletter focused on workplace tools and practices, and a compelling lineup of guests including Coach Anthony, Molly Booker, James Felton Keith, and Amri Johnson. Erica reaffirms the podcast’s mission as a public benefit corporation and the continued commitment to real, grounded conversations that support human potential, fairness, and effective leadership.
Topics Discussed:
- Why the break between Seasons 5 and 6 was necessary
- Supporting clients through workforce disruption and organizational change
- The seasonality of life and the power of rest
- Personal reflections on illness, grief, and reconnection
- The importance of self-awareness in the recharging process
- What to expect in Season 6: guest lineup and new themes
- Recommitment to the podcast’s mission as a public benefit corporation
Resources and Links:
- Learn more at twopiersconsulting.com
- Subscribe to the Two Piers newsletter for tools, practices, and insights on building better workplaces
- Connect with Erica D’Eramo on LinkedIn
- Follow @twopiersconsulting on Instagram
About the Podcast:
The Two Piers Podcast is produced by Two Piers Consulting, a public benefit corporation dedicated to workplace equity, inclusive leadership, and organizational transformation. Hosted by Erica D’Eramo, the podcast features conversations with leaders, changemakers, and practitioners working to create more just and effective workplaces.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Erica D'Eramo (00:04):
Hello and welcome to the Two Piers Podcast. I'm
your host, Erica D'Eramo, andtoday we are kicking off season
six. Hard to believe that weactually have six years of
podcasting under our bell atthis point, but we are really
grateful to have you here, andwe'll just give a little
highlight of what's in store forseason six. It'll be a short
(00:25):
episode today.
So welcome to season six. We arecoming back from a little bit of
a break over the first, I guess,almost half of 2025 decided to
(00:50):
take a little breather inbetween Season Five and season
six, just to kind of figure outwhat I wanted to do with this
podcast, get a little Bit of alibrary and a backlog of
episodes recorded and justrefocus our energy in the first
part of the year. I think a lotof folks know that Two Piers
does quite a bit of work withfolks either transitioning
(01:14):
career paths or, you know, rightnow, we have a lot of clients
that work in the federalgovernment in different ways,
different capacities. Some ofthem are active duty military
some folks are civilian militarysupport. Some folks are in
various other departments of thegovernment in a civilian
capacity. But a lot of folks areexperiencing a great deal of
(01:38):
change right now, and so we didjust take a break from the
podcast to really focus ourefforts on supporting our
current clientele in thecoaching space, but also in the
consulting space. And some ofour organizations that we
support, you know, do a lot ofwork with government contracts,
and they have been experiencingchanges as well, due to, you
(02:02):
know, the swath of executiveorders that have been coming
through and a lot of the impactsthat that's had to various work
streams, to, you know,reductions in force. It's been,
it's been a lot of turmoil. Sowe decided to hit pause on the
podcast for now, just so that wecould make sure we were showing
up and supporting people the waythat they needed to be
(02:23):
supported, and now we're readyto kick it back off. So I'm
recording this episode from midCoast Maine. We finally got some
flowers blooming here. I knowit's mid May, and I always have
to remind myself that we don'tusually get bud break. We don't
usually get leaves on the treesuntil about mid May, and this
week, the leaves are coming. Sogot little leaves on the trees.
(02:46):
Stuff is starting to turn green.
We've got some tulips blooming.
And this time of year is alwayssuch a reminder for me of the,
you know, the seasonality of theyear, but also, just like the
seasonality of life, that evenafter a very long winter, I
mean, really, in Maine, youknow, we kind of get, like, an
(03:07):
eight month winter sometimes.
And I like, I like that. We getfour seasons. I like the lead up
to winter. I love autumn. I lovethat change. I love the nesting
that happens in the winter. ButI gotta admit, March and April
are pretty tough. They're prettytough months. You know, you're
kind of ready. The days aregetting longer. You're ready to
(03:28):
be outside, but the weather isstill kind of tough. Lots of
rain this year, but yesterdayand today, we've had some
sunshine. We had sunshine onSunday, and it's just been, you
know, a little bit of a wake upand a reminder for me, I'm
getting over being sick for acouple of weeks, just fighting
off a viral bug and and a lot,we've had some grief in our
(03:50):
family. And, you know, just areminder that, like, there are
sunny days, there are sunnydays, and this too shall pass
for all of the challenges. Thereare cycles, and it's a reminder
to really like smell theflowers, to be super cliche, but
even in one of my coachingsessions where I was the client,
(04:12):
when I was working with mycoach, I just found myself
overwhelmed the other day by thebeauty of like looking outside
and seeing the forsythia andrealizing that we, you know,
even especially maybe whenthings are super tough and when
we are juggling so much andthere's so much uncertainty and
we don't know what we need to bedoing to lead to the best
(04:33):
outcomes, those are sometimesthe time, the moments when it is
Most important to take a momentand reconnect with nature. Get
some sunshine on your skin, getsome vitamin D through your
eyeballs and and just rememberthat like we are all organisms.
And sometimes I'll ask a client,like, if you were a house plant,
(04:54):
how? How would you be doingright now? Are you getting.
Enough water? Are you gettingenough sunshine? Are you getting
enough nutrients? And I think,honestly, sometimes the answer
is just No. If I were a houseplant, I think my leaves would
be falling off right now.
So just embracing some of that.
And honestly, I think I'vementioned it before, but my cats
(05:14):
are often a good reminder for meof just taking a moment and, you
know, lounging in the sun, ifthat's what we need to recharge
our batteries. But beingcognizant, I think this is a
time of year where it'sespecially prescient about, you
know, the concept of, like, whatrecharges our batteries? Because
we're getting ready for summer,at least here we just got our we
(05:38):
have a little boat, and we'regoing to put it in the water
soon, and we're really excitedto be back out on the river and
just, you know, exploring natureagain. And it's a time of year
to remind ourselves of, like,what does fill our cup? And it
might not be what society tellsus fills our cup, right? It
might be that people, somepeople, relax and are
rejuvenated by inactivity, andsome people, especially as
(06:02):
neurodivergent folks, maybeinactivity is not rejuvenating
for us, and there might be adraw towards resting or
relaxing. There might be a drawtowards lots of activity right
now and getting busy andstarting to add our social
calendar now that we're allcoming out of hyper hibernation,
and I, I laugh, because I knowthe folks in Houston, we have so
(06:26):
many friends in Houston, youknow, it's already like full
blown summer down, down indifferent parts of the US,
whereas here we're really Justin springtime. So this, this
reflection might, you know, notbe seasonally appropriate,
appropriate for everyone, but atleast for me, it's a time for me
(06:47):
to really think through what doI need. And coming off of
illness, I was really kind oflaid out for a couple weeks. I
had to be really clear withmyself about what I could do and
what I needed to take off myplate. So a lot of triage
happening, a lot of surrender interms of what I could accomplish
and what I couldn't, and justletting myself really heal. And
(07:09):
you could probably even hear inmy voice, there's still a little
bit of a scratch, there's stillsome coughing. I did want to
kick off this season a few weeksago, but I actually just had to
wait until my voice healed to beable to even record this
episode. So we'll be starting upour newsletter again. It'll be
taking a different format so itwill not be as lengthy. It won't
(07:30):
really be a full kind ofcoverage of everything going on
in the world of diversity,equity and inclusion. Instead,
we're we'll be focusing more onwhat is most supportive for
workplace practices, what peoplecan, you know, tools and
theories and practices thatpeople can use themselves or
(07:51):
within their teams to reallycreate healthy, supportive
workplaces and healthysupportive dynamics for
ourselves and for those that wework with. So a little bit of a
change in direction on ournewsletter, but I will still be
sharing the podcast episodes. Wewill still be having some of our
(08:12):
favorite reading picks thatwe'll include in there, and
we'll link to blog articles andshare what's on the agenda,
where you can find us, and whatTwo Piers is up to. And this
season, we've got some greatepisodes already recorded in the
queue ready to go out. CoachAnthony is back with some great
(08:34):
reflections. He has a coupleepisodes that we'll be featuring
him on we're also, we'll also betalking about some workplace,
you know, structuring theworkplace to avoid burnout, and
what we can do from a systemicpoint of view with that, with Dr
Marissa Alert, we have MollyBooker, who will be sharing her
(08:55):
experiences of really cominginto her own in terms of
embracing a messy life, comingout of the closet and
discovering herself. So she'sjoining us for June, and we've
got some reflections from JamesFelton Keith JFK, and he talks
to us about how insurancecompanies are looking at the
(09:18):
concept of inclusion and lookingat it from really like a
liability perspective. But howare we ensuring for that? And he
talks about his ISO practicethat he's published. And we also
have a Amri Johnson joining usto talk about this kind of
revisiting what dei looks like,and what does that look like in
(09:41):
our current environment? And heshares some really great
introspective thoughts. Soalready, a good lineup. We've
got other guests in the queue,excited to talk to them and
share their insights and sharewhat it is they're passionate
about, and bring that. Ouraudience, and as always, the Two
Piers Podcast is not sponsored.
(10:05):
We don't take at least right nowin the journey, I've decided
against any kind of sponsorship,any kind of advertising. This
really is just intended to be aresource for individuals to find
some tools that can help themsurvive and thrive in their
workplaces, or from a systemsperspective, can help create the
(10:27):
workplaces that we all want tobe working in, and it is a
resource out there in alignmentwith our public benefit
corporation status. So we, youknow, we put that mission first
and foremost, and we willcontinue to do that as a public
benefit corporation. So I am soexcited for season six. I'm
(10:47):
excited for the newsletter tokick back off. I am just
wrapping up my pcccertification, so that will also
be a big part of 2026 for me, or2025 for me as an individual, as
a coach, on my coaching journey,so I'll be sharing some insights
about that as well, and and howI've grown and embraced some of
(11:11):
those changes in my coaching,and what that's looked like. So
really such a time of of growthand change, and we're happy to
be back. Thanks for joining usfor this episode, and we look
forward to seeing you on thenext one.
Hello and welcome to the Two Piers Podcast. I'm
your host, Erica D'Eramo, andtoday we are kicking off season
six. Hard to believe that weactually have six years of
podcasting under our bell atthis point, but we are really
grateful to have you here, andwe'll just give a little
highlight of what's in store forseason six. It'll be a short
(00:25):
episode today.
So welcome to season six. We arecoming back from a little bit of
a break over the first, I guess,almost half of 2025 decided to
(00:50):
take a little breather inbetween Season Five and season
six, just to kind of figure outwhat I wanted to do with this
podcast, get a little Bit of alibrary and a backlog of
episodes recorded and justrefocus our energy in the first
part of the year. I think a lotof folks know that Two Piers
does quite a bit of work withfolks either transitioning
(01:14):
career paths or, you know, rightnow, we have a lot of clients
that work in the federalgovernment in different ways,
different capacities. Some ofthem are active duty military
some folks are civilian militarysupport. Some folks are in
various other departments of thegovernment in a civilian
capacity. But a lot of folks areexperiencing a great deal of
(01:38):
change right now, and so we didjust take a break from the
podcast to really focus ourefforts on supporting our
current clientele in thecoaching space, but also in the
consulting space. And some ofour organizations that we
support, you know, do a lot ofwork with government contracts,
and they have been experiencingchanges as well, due to, you
(02:02):
know, the swath of executiveorders that have been coming
through and a lot of the impactsthat that's had to various work
streams, to, you know,reductions in force. It's been,
it's been a lot of turmoil. Sowe decided to hit pause on the
podcast for now, just so that wecould make sure we were showing
up and supporting people the waythat they needed to be
(02:23):
supported, and now we're readyto kick it back off. So I'm
recording this episode from midCoast Maine. We finally got some
flowers blooming here. I knowit's mid May, and I always have
to remind myself that we don'tusually get bud break. We don't
usually get leaves on the treesuntil about mid May, and this
week, the leaves are coming. Sogot little leaves on the trees.
(02:46):
Stuff is starting to turn green.
We've got some tulips blooming.
And this time of year is alwayssuch a reminder for me of the,
you know, the seasonality of theyear, but also, just like the
seasonality of life, that evenafter a very long winter, I
mean, really, in Maine, youknow, we kind of get, like, an
(03:07):
eight month winter sometimes.
And I like, I like that. We getfour seasons. I like the lead up
to winter. I love autumn. I lovethat change. I love the nesting
that happens in the winter. ButI gotta admit, March and April
are pretty tough. They're prettytough months. You know, you're
kind of ready. The days aregetting longer. You're ready to
(03:28):
be outside, but the weather isstill kind of tough. Lots of
rain this year, but yesterdayand today, we've had some
sunshine. We had sunshine onSunday, and it's just been, you
know, a little bit of a wake upand a reminder for me, I'm
getting over being sick for acouple of weeks, just fighting
off a viral bug and and a lot,we've had some grief in our
(03:50):
family. And, you know, just areminder that, like, there are
sunny days, there are sunnydays, and this too shall pass
for all of the challenges. Thereare cycles, and it's a reminder
to really like smell theflowers, to be super cliche, but
even in one of my coachingsessions where I was the client,
(04:12):
when I was working with mycoach, I just found myself
overwhelmed the other day by thebeauty of like looking outside
and seeing the forsythia andrealizing that we, you know,
even especially maybe whenthings are super tough and when
we are juggling so much andthere's so much uncertainty and
we don't know what we need to bedoing to lead to the best
(04:33):
outcomes, those are sometimesthe time, the moments when it is
Most important to take a momentand reconnect with nature. Get
some sunshine on your skin, getsome vitamin D through your
eyeballs and and just rememberthat like we are all organisms.
And sometimes I'll ask a client,like, if you were a house plant,
(04:54):
how? How would you be doingright now? Are you getting.
Enough water? Are you gettingenough sunshine? Are you getting
enough nutrients? And I think,honestly, sometimes the answer
is just No. If I were a houseplant, I think my leaves would
be falling off right now.
So just embracing some of that.
And honestly, I think I'vementioned it before, but my cats
(05:14):
are often a good reminder for meof just taking a moment and, you
know, lounging in the sun, ifthat's what we need to recharge
our batteries. But beingcognizant, I think this is a
time of year where it'sespecially prescient about, you
know, the concept of, like, whatrecharges our batteries? Because
we're getting ready for summer,at least here we just got our we
(05:38):
have a little boat, and we'regoing to put it in the water
soon, and we're really excitedto be back out on the river and
just, you know, exploring natureagain. And it's a time of year
to remind ourselves of, like,what does fill our cup? And it
might not be what society tellsus fills our cup, right? It
might be that people, somepeople, relax and are
rejuvenated by inactivity, andsome people, especially as
(06:02):
neurodivergent folks, maybeinactivity is not rejuvenating
for us, and there might be adraw towards resting or
relaxing. There might be a drawtowards lots of activity right
now and getting busy andstarting to add our social
calendar now that we're allcoming out of hyper hibernation,
and I, I laugh, because I knowthe folks in Houston, we have so
(06:26):
many friends in Houston, youknow, it's already like full
blown summer down, down indifferent parts of the US,
whereas here we're really Justin springtime. So this, this
reflection might, you know, notbe seasonally appropriate,
appropriate for everyone, but atleast for me, it's a time for me
(06:47):
to really think through what doI need. And coming off of
illness, I was really kind oflaid out for a couple weeks. I
had to be really clear withmyself about what I could do and
what I needed to take off myplate. So a lot of triage
happening, a lot of surrender interms of what I could accomplish
and what I couldn't, and justletting myself really heal. And
(07:09):
you could probably even hear inmy voice, there's still a little
bit of a scratch, there's stillsome coughing. I did want to
kick off this season a few weeksago, but I actually just had to
wait until my voice healed to beable to even record this
episode. So we'll be starting upour newsletter again. It'll be
taking a different format so itwill not be as lengthy. It won't
(07:30):
really be a full kind ofcoverage of everything going on
in the world of diversity,equity and inclusion. Instead,
we're we'll be focusing more onwhat is most supportive for
workplace practices, what peoplecan, you know, tools and
theories and practices thatpeople can use themselves or
(07:51):
within their teams to reallycreate healthy, supportive
workplaces and healthysupportive dynamics for
ourselves and for those that wework with. So a little bit of a
change in direction on ournewsletter, but I will still be
sharing the podcast episodes. Wewill still be having some of our
(08:12):
favorite reading picks thatwe'll include in there, and
we'll link to blog articles andshare what's on the agenda,
where you can find us, and whatTwo Piers is up to. And this
season, we've got some greatepisodes already recorded in the
queue ready to go out. CoachAnthony is back with some great
(08:34):
reflections. He has a coupleepisodes that we'll be featuring
him on we're also, we'll also betalking about some workplace,
you know, structuring theworkplace to avoid burnout, and
what we can do from a systemicpoint of view with that, with Dr
Marissa Alert, we have MollyBooker, who will be sharing her
(08:55):
experiences of really cominginto her own in terms of
embracing a messy life, comingout of the closet and
discovering herself. So she'sjoining us for June, and we've
got some reflections from JamesFelton Keith JFK, and he talks
to us about how insurancecompanies are looking at the
(09:18):
concept of inclusion and lookingat it from really like a
liability perspective. But howare we ensuring for that? And he
talks about his ISO practicethat he's published. And we also
have a Amri Johnson joining usto talk about this kind of
revisiting what dei looks like,and what does that look like in
(09:41):
our current environment? And heshares some really great
introspective thoughts. Soalready, a good lineup. We've
got other guests in the queue,excited to talk to them and
share their insights and sharewhat it is they're passionate
about, and bring that. Ouraudience, and as always, the Two
Piers Podcast is not sponsored.
(10:05):
We don't take at least right nowin the journey, I've decided
against any kind of sponsorship,any kind of advertising. This
really is just intended to be aresource for individuals to find
some tools that can help themsurvive and thrive in their
workplaces, or from a systemsperspective, can help create the
(10:27):
workplaces that we all want tobe working in, and it is a
resource out there in alignmentwith our public benefit
corporation status. So we, youknow, we put that mission first
and foremost, and we willcontinue to do that as a public
benefit corporation. So I am soexcited for season six. I'm
(10:47):
excited for the newsletter tokick back off. I am just
wrapping up my pcccertification, so that will also
be a big part of 2026 for me, or2025 for me as an individual, as
a coach, on my coaching journey,so I'll be sharing some insights
about that as well, and and howI've grown and embraced some of
(11:11):
those changes in my coaching,and what that's looked like. So
really such a time of of growthand change, and we're happy to
be back. Thanks for joining usfor this episode, and we look
forward to seeing you on thenext one.
Popular Podcasts
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
The Breakfast Club
The World's Most Dangerous Morning Show, The Breakfast Club, With DJ Envy And Charlamagne Tha God!
The Joe Rogan Experience
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.